Friday, 18 May 2012

Some Spectacular Japanese Meals

One of the reasons I enjoy Japanese food so much is because we get to eat it using all these wonderful tiny little dishes. It makes me feel like I'm five years old again and playing with my tea set, LOL! Look at this place setting, for example. Nearly a dozen charming plates and bowls! I also love how all the dishes are not matchy-matchy. Each one is unique. This set dinner was prepared for us at a hot springs resort in the Japan Alps.

The next photo is of a restaurant where we had some tempura, miso soup and cold noodles for lunch. It was a standard lunch by Japanese standards but not by North American standards. When asked later if he enjoyed lunch, one of the men on our tour grumbled, "I didn't have lunch. I had an appetizer."

Beef is not a staple in Japanese cuisine like it is in Canada. So about a week into our tour, everyone was seriously jonesing for some beef (except the vegetarians and vegans, of course). Then our prayers were answered! At a Japanese BBQ restaurant, we were given several plates of thin raw beef to cook right at the table. You can see our round inset grill on the left of the photo.

There were various cuts of beef on the plates, including (as I learned after the fact) tongue. As a dedicated picky eater, I would not ordinarily have touched tongue with a ten foot pole. But ignorance is bliss, as they say, so I wolfed it right down. And how truly delicious it was! *yum yum*

it seems everywhere i've traveled people eat tongue. ireland, england, asia and of course montreal and quebec. i have yet to eat it. my family alway ate pickled lambs tongues but not me. i just can't do it.

I love those tiny dishes too! When we get Japanese takeout I love the way it's all so beautiful. The chef smiles when we pick it up, and you can tell all the food was made with care. Now I want Japanese for lunch!!! Love hearing about your trip.

LOL @ Robin -- I know, everything strange is supposed to taste like chicken! Actually, the tongue did not. Its flavour and texture had a somewhat baconish nature. I enjoyed it but recognized as I was eating that I wasn't quite . . . sure . . . what this meat was? But I decided not to worry and just go for it!

I've only eaten Japanese food a few times but I love the way it always looks so neat and colorful. I just don't think I could do tongue though - you all must have been desperate for beef to chow down on that!

I LOVE Japanese cuisine. I still remember my first full blown Japanese meal when I was 8 years old. "Bachan" only spoke Japanese and wanted to feed me raw fish... I think I looked a little desperate (as I could not understand Japanese and the thought of eating anything raw was alien to me), because my aunt's sister-in-law came to my rescue.

I am enjoying these posts so much, I agree, the little many little dishes is a wonderful way to eat.They do eat less than we do, thats probably why we are fatter here in canada.A Japanese girl that lived with us often said our portions in Canada were huge, she and her friend that came on exchange to Canada said they were afraid of how much weight they gained in Canada, both lost it when they went back to Japan, just by eating normal,

I have had to start a new blog, i hope you will find me.I have called it When the bough broke